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Dunhill Championship
Course: Houghton Golf Club, Johannesburg, South Africa
Yardage: 7309
Par: 72 (four par-fives)
Greens: Bentgrass Weather
Forecast Best Players Last 10 Years Past Winners:
2001 - Adam Scott
2000 - Anthony Wall
1999 - Ernie Els
1998 - Tony Johnstone
1997 - Nick Price
1996 - Sven Struver
1995 - Ernie Els
1994 - David Frost
1993 - Mark McNulty
1992 - Ernie Els
Outright plays:
Steve Webster to win 20/1 e.w. @ Surrey, BetInternet or Sporting Odds [0.5 units]
Excellent course form and closed with a storming 64 to almost snatch victory
from Tim Clark last week. Top-10 in driving distance and greens in regulation,
top-20 in driving accuracy last week, Webster just needs his putter to warm up a
little and he'll win this event.
Martin Maritz to win 66/1
e.w. @ Surrey [0.5 units]
Can't believe that Maritz continues to be undervalued and particularly by Surrey
Sports. Almost always in contention in South Africa and but for opening with two
straight bogeys in the final round, he would have secured another top-5 finish.
Don't expect to get this price again if he does achieve that goal.
Simon Dyson to win 66/1 e.w.
@ Sporting Odds or Bet247
[0.5 units]
Just gets the nod over Jeev Milkha Singh who has a great record on this course.
Dyson finished 41st last year - three sub-70 rounds were ruined by a 77 in the
3rd round - but has since finished 9th and 5th on South African soil. Nice
progression and seems to be at his best outside Europe.
72-hole plays:
Des Terblanche to beat Warren
Bennett +110 @ Camelot [0.5 units]
The wide (and wet) fairways should suit the big-hitting South African who has
finished in the top-25 in the last two seasons. Bennett finished 33rd last week
and that is his best performance on the Southern Africa Tour to date. Opposable,
particularly with a decent price.
Roger Wessels to beat Warren
Bennett -111 @ Victor
Chandler [0.5 units]
Again siding with the home player who has finished no worse than 12th in his
last five events, a run that includes the Volvo Masters and last week's South
African Open.
Mark McNulty to beat Andrew
Coltart -125 @ Easybets [0.5 units]
This course will not suit McNulty as much as Durban last week, but he can always
be expected to contend in Southern Africa. Expecting a rusty performance from
Coltart in his season-opening event. He hasn't played here since finishing 37th
in 1997 and ended last year poorly with finishes of 70th, mc, mc, 44th (limited
field).
Brian Davis to beat Paul
Lawrie -110 @ Surrey [0.5 units]
This will also be Davis' first event of the year, but in contrast to Coltart he
has finished in the top-10 in the last two years here and finished 2001 strongly
with finishes of 13th, 3rd, 30th, 8th, 9th. Opposing Lawrie who really struggled
on the greens last week en route to finishing 26th.
Steve Webster to beat Paul Lawrie -125 @ Sportingbet [0.5 units]
Have to side with the leading outright pick who got his putter working well on
Sunday to finish 2nd. This course will be more suited to his length off the tee
than Durban.
Steve Webster to beat Paul McGinley -105 @ Intertops
As with Coltart, I expect a rather rusty performance from McGinley this
week. He does have a good record in this event, but looked very tired when
playing in Japan and Hong Kong at the end of last year. Qualification for the
Ryder Cup had taken its toll and this could be a more muted start to the year.
Martin Maritz to beat James
Kingston -118 @ Easybets [0.5 units]
Kingston could, and maybe should, have won last week. Instead he finished 3rd.
But he has a very poor record on this course. We would have to go back to 1995
to find his last top-25 finish here.
Mark McNulty to beat Justin
Rose -111 @ Simon Bold [0.5 units]
Siding with the consistent McNulty over the anything but consistent Rose. He may
have been born in Johannesburg and finished 2nd last year, but he had had a very
poor record on this course previously and missed the cut last week.
Roger Wessels to beat Justin
Rose -118 @ Easybets [0.5 units]
As above, siding with the in-form Wessels and opposing the unpredictable Rose.
Mid-point update:
Terblanche/Bennett WON by 2
Wessels/Bennett WON by 12
McNulty/Coltart Trails by 6
Maritz/Kingston Leads by 2
McNulty/Rose Trails by 6
Wessels/Rose Leads by 3
Maritz 5th
Dyson 18th
Webster and Lawrie withdrew with
an upset stomach and a bad back respectively to void three matchups and one
outright play, but very satisfied with the others so far. Only McNulty has
failed to deliver.
Final Update:
Matchups: 3-3-0; -0.23 units
McNulty/Coltart LOST by 3
Maritz/Kingston WON by 7
McNulty/Rose LOST by 10
Wessels/Rose LOST by 6
Outrights: 1-1; +3.38 units
Maritz 2nd
Dyson 30th
Profitable week and have to be
thankful for that! Maritz had stormed to a two-shot lead with 18 holes to go and
the matchups were in profit as well. They finished losing and Maritz was
4-over-par for his final round and completely out of contention. A holed approach shot on the 14th and then a run of par-eagle-birdie to get within an eagle on the par-5 last of securing a playoff. He didn't
get it 
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